Automatic return-hook.



} H.L.FLANARY.

AUTOMATIC RETURN HOOK.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1913.

1,096,498. Patented May 12, 1914.

' E Gum/M 31 COLUMBIA PLANOGMPM C0,. WASHINGTON. I). c.

HENRY L. FLANARY, OF ROARINGFORK, VIRGINIA.

AUTOMATIC RETURN-HOOK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 22, 1913.

Patented May 12, 191.4. Serial No. 791,136.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY L. FLANARY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Roaring-fork, in the county of \Vise and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Automatic Return-Hooks; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to electric railways, and more especially to the means for distributing the current; and the object of the same is to produce an improved book capable of being carried by a two-wire cable which in turn is wound on a reel on a gathering locomotive such as is used in mines and the like.

Ordinarily the main passages throughout a mine are equipped with trolle wires and the gathering locomotives take t ieir current from the same by an ordinary trolley pole and wheel, but when such a locomotive leaves the main line and runs into a side passage or room wherein temporary and usually imperfect tracks have been laid but the trolley wire has not been extended, it becomes necessary for the loco-motive to take its current through a two-wire cable, one wire of which is connected with the trolley line outside the passage or room while the other Wire carrying the return current must be connected with the main line track where its rails are bonded and the circuit is uninterrupted back to the dynamo. This cable is usually unwound from a drum or reel carried on the locomotive, as the latter backs into the passage or room after the car or cars which are to be removed, and is automatically rewound on said drum as the locomotive returns to the main line. Hitherto it has been necessary for an operator to prccede the locomotive on its return and to detach the hook from the rail and the overhead hook or connector from the trolley, and of course this was dangerous to the operator because of the possibility that he would receive an electric shock or be in jured by the advancing locomotive.

The purpose of the present invention may be said to be the provision of an automatic return hook which makes electrical contact with the rail through the tension on the cable which is imparted by the drum itself, and the advantage resulting from the use of this invention is that said operator is not needed and the parts of the equipment are safe from destruction through their being accidentally run over by the locomotive.

The invention consists in the details of construction hereinafter more fully described and claimed and as shown in the drawings wherein- .l ignre 1 is a side elevation of a locomotive equipped with my invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the hook itself on a larger scale; Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of said hook and a cross section through the web of the rail, the hook being shown as engaging the head of said rail; ,Fig- 4 is a cross section through the cable clip.

In the drawings I have used the letter L to designate a locomotive of this type, which travels on rails It beneath a trolley wire T, D is the drum on the locomotive which may be norn'lally wound up by means of a spring (not shown) or by connection with the motor also not shown, and C is the cable leading from said drum through a guide G on the locomotive, to my improved return hook, and one wire of the cable leads thence upward to a clip or fork F whose detailed construction is not essential.

Coming now to the present invention, the numeral 1 designates a plate adapted to overlie the head of the rail and having a downturned flange 2 along one edge and a clownturned ear 3 along its other edge at what might be called its rear end, whereas the forward end of this edge carries a laterally pro jecting lip 4-. Pivoted alongside the ear 3 at the point 5 is a lever (5 having at about its midlength a suitable binding post 7 in which the bared extremity of one of the wires in the two-wire cable C is to be mounted, and having at its upper and rearward end a clip consisting of a top plate 8 formed by flattening the lover, a bottom plate 9, and

a pair of screws or bolts 10 connecting the edges of these plates so as to tightly embrace the cable C. The other wire within this cable turns outward past and out of contact with the lever as at 11, is heavily insulatcd as indicated in Fig. 1 because it has to be handled by an operator, and has at its upper end a clip or fork F adapted to frictionally engage the trolley wire T, although the details and construction of this fork are unimportant to the present invention. Iivoted at 15 beneath the lip 1 is a horizontally disposed bent jaw 16 whose inner or working face is serrated at 17 and whose outer arm 18 is pivoted at 19 to a link 20, the rear end of said link passing through the lever 6 at 21 where it is pivoted thereto at a little distance above the pivot 5 and above the surface of the plate. The con struction and proportion of parts is such that when the lever 6 is moved to the rear or rather when its rear end is moved downward, the serrated face 17 of the jaw 16 is borne inward against the edge of the railhead which it grips tighter and tighter the farther the rear end of the lever 6 is depressed. Tt is from this rear end that the two-wire cable C 1s led, through a suitable guide G to the drum D on the locomotive L, and electrical contact from one wire of the cable is established through the binding post 7 to the lever 6, and thence through the pivot 5 and the link 20 into the plate 1 and from its flange 2 and the face 17 of the jaw 16 to the rail R. With a locomotive equipped with this attachment, when the engineer finds it necessary to leave the main line and back or go into a passage or room after a car for instance, he unships the attachment and places the clip or fork F astride the trolley T, then lays the return hook over the rail R and bears down on the rear end of the lever 6 so that the jaw face 17 grips the rail, which at this point is well bonded because it is on the main line, then hauling down his trolley pole (not shown) he severs connection through it with his motor, and finally throwing a switch from the motor wires onto the drum wires, he reestablishes connection with the trolley wire through this attachment. Thereafter he is at liberty to back his locomotive into the passage or room, as the supply current passes through the fork F and wire 11 to the drum, thence to the motor and back by means not necessary to amplify, and the return current passes through the other wire in the cable C to the return hook described above, and thence to the rail at a point where the latter is bonded and therefore constitutes an unbroken conductor back to the source of power, which the rails in the passageway or room might not do. On his return to the main line the drum D takes up the slack in the cable C so that the locomotive will not run over it, and on approaching the hook the fact that the guide is so much higher than the rear end of the lever causes the wound up cable to lift on said rear end as will be clear. The result is that the lever pushes on the link 21. and this link rocks the jaw 16 so that its face 17 is thrown out of contact with the rail-head; and further progress of the locomotive brings the guide G directly over the return hook so that continued winding on the drum D lifts the hook off the track. As the locomotive passes the point where the fork F engages the trolley T, if said fork be of the spring type it will draw oifthe trolley without attention on the part of anyone. Therefore no life has been endangered, and it is impossible for the re turning locomotive to run over any part of this attachment.

It will not be necessary to give the proportions and sizes of parts nor the materials, further than to say that the return hook should be of metal such as is a good conductor of electricity.

1 might throw out the suggestion that in case the switch or side line descends con siderably from the main line into the room or passageway which the engine is to enter, it is quite possible that the stretch of cable lettered C in Fig. 1 could be used as a drawrope in which case the return hook becomes a rail-grip and the drum D when wound by power will assist the return of the locomotive to the main line, with its load.

lVhat is claimed as new is:

1. The herein described rail grip comprising a body plate having a depending flange along one edge, a depending ear at the opposite edge at one end of the plate and a horizontal lip at this edge and at the opposite end of the plate, a jaw pivoted beneath said lip and having a working face adapted to engage the rail, a lever moving in an upright plane and pivoted outside said ear, and a link pivotally connecting the outer end of said jaw with said lever above its supporting pivot.

2. The herein described rail grip compris ing a channeled plate adapted to overlie the rail head and having a laterally projecting lip at its forward end, a bent jaw pivoted between its ends beneath said lip and having its inner end deflected to the rear and provided with a serrated face adapted to engage the rail-head, a lever moving in an upright plane and pivoted at its lower end alongside said channeled plate, and a link having its forward end turned downward and pivoted to the outer end of said jaw and its rearward end turned aside and pivoted through said lever above the supporting pivot of the latter.

8. A return hook described comprising a channeled body adapted to overlie the head of a rail, a rail grip movably connected with said body, a lever pivoted to the body, and connections between said lever and grip; combined with a cable leading from the outer end of said lever, and a locomotive having a drum on which said cable is wound.

4. A return hook for use as hereinbefore described comprising a channeled body adapted to overlie the head of a rail, a rail grip movably connected with said body, a lever pivoted to the body, and connections between said lever and grip; combined with a cable leading from the outer end of said for use as hereinbefore lever, a locomotive, a guide thereon higher than said lever when the grip is secured to a rail and through which guide said cable passes, and a drum on the locomotive in rear of the guide and around which said cable is wound.

A return hook for use as hereinbefore described comprising a. channeled body adapted to overlie the head of a rail, a rail grip movably connected with said body, a lever pivoted to the body, and connections between said lever and grip; combined with a two-wire cable whereof one wire is in metallic contact with said lever, a fork carried by the forward end of the other wire and adapted for detachable connection with an overhead trolley, a locomotive, and a drum thereon around which said cable is wound.

6. A return hook for use as hereinbefore described comprising a. channeled body adapted to overlie the head of a rail, a rail grip movably connected with said body, a lever pivoted to the body, and conncctlons between said lever and grip; combined with a binding post at the mid-length of said lever, a clip at the rear end of such lever, a two-wire cable passing through said clip and with the forward end of one wire engaged in said binding post and the forward end of the other wire upturned and carrying a clip for an overhead trolley wire, an electric locomotive, a guide on the forward end of the same, and a drum on said locomotive, the whole for use substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY L. FLANARY.

WVitnesses J. H. SMITH, A. J. FLANARY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0." 

